Fun Facts About the NHL Playoffs

One of the most exciting things about Stanley Cup playoff hockey is sudden-death overtime. When the next goal decides the winner, games can go on for hours and hours.

The longest NHL playoff game happened on March 24, 1936, between the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Maroons. The game finished at 2:30 in the morning, when Martin "Mud" Bruteneau scored the winning goal for the Maroons after 116 minutes and 30 seconds of extra time—that's nearly six periods of O.T.

The final score was 1-0.

Darkest Moment

During the second period of Game Four of the 1988 Stanley Cup Finals between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers, the lights went out at the Boston Garden.

A 4,000-volt switch overloaded and the brain-dead maintenance workers at the arena weren't able to turn the lights back on. The Stanley Cup playoff game was cancelled and replayed two nights later in Edmonton—where arena staff were able to keep the power on for the entire game.

Ugliest Moment

In a 1976 Stanley Cup playoff game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz picked up an NHL playoff-record 42 penalty minutes. His total included two fighting majors from a pair of scraps with Dave "Tiger" Williams, a 10-minute misconduct, a double game misconduct, and a two-minute minor penalty.

Fastest Moment

The fastest goal to start an NHL playoff game came on April 17, 1972. Don Kozak of the Los Angeles Kings didn't waste any time, scoring just six seconds into a Stanley Cup playoff game against the Boston Bruins.

Dirtiest Moment

The 2001 Stanley Cup was won by the Colorado Avalanche. Avs forward Shjon Podein wore his sweaty uniform, equipment and skates for more than 25 hours after his team won the final game.

"It was a triple-dog dare. I had to do it," said Shjon, who even slept with his equipment on.

"I don't think my wife really enjoyed it because I smelled so bad. I slept on one side of the bed with my dog in the middle and my wife as far away as possible. My dog didn't mind the smell, but my wife thought it was disgusting. I just saw it as a challenge, something fun to do because we'd just won the Stanley Cup. It was 20 percent funny and 80 percent dumb."